Marching To The Beat Of A Different Reality

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Yesterday I took to my Facebook page to write about my feelings of disillusionment with
the state of the US and our structure of governance. Today I think it will take a blog to provide a
specific explanation. This will be a post guaranteed to cause consternation
among many, but hey, I've never shirked from creating a stir. Before I
continue, I will say I wholeheartedly believe that everyone is entitled to an
opinion about what I say and the causes I support - whether good or bad –
because I put my opinions out in the public sphere. I don't begrudge anyone
their say, because I freely provide my own. I will also say wholeheartedly that
I’m not meaning to call anyone out or point the finger at anyone specifically
in this post, but it will more than likely be construed that way because I will
quote a specific comment made by a specific individual. Now, to the point.

I believe funding for education should follow the child and
not be given, carte blanche to schools. I'm not going to go into the myriad
reasons why I believe this, but suffice it to say, I’m a free-enterprise kind
of a gal and I think the free market concept should extend to education. Anytime
the government extracts money from an individual for a 'public' cause,
socialism ensues, and socialism on any level squashes excellence. It has to.
Everyone has to fit in a box and if you're too big for the box, too bad for
you. Of course, this riles supporters of 'free' public education for myriad
reasons, but mainly because administrators, teachers and even parents have been
trained like Pavlov's dogs to start salivating copiously once the 'funding'
bell rings. We Americans - like the Romans before us - cannot be content to go
backward. We must go forward and forward always costs more. This philosophy
explains why the Roman Empire bankrupted itself into oblivion and why America is on the same track.

There are a number of people who not only dislike this
concept, but dislike me personally for suggesting such anathema. One such person publicly told me yesterday,

"Good luck getting this legislation passed (Education Savings Accounts;
ESA’s). All of those parents and teachers who helped you so much last year with
repealing common core (even though press from your group claims only 4 of you
were the ones who made it happen), will be working against you on this bill
during the upcoming session. We care about all children, not just our own, so
this bill is unacceptable to us.”

Okay, WHO helped ME? I think I was completely taken aback
for a bit. I mean, I know we all have bad days and sometimes we say things we
shouldn’t or didn’t mean, but that really threw me for a loop. In fact, that one thing
really made me start questioning why I would even continue to be involved in
education or even politics at all.I
couldn’t help myself and I responded. I probably should have left it alone – I probably
shouldn’t be recounting the story now, but I’ve encountered this kind of thing
too many times in too many people over the last year to let it drop this time.

My kids have been out of public education for four years.
Common Core had literally no effect on me or my kids after the second year I
began studying it in 2009. My fight over Common Core was NEVER about ME
personally. I stayed on the topic of Common Core for over five years - even
after I brought my kids home - because Common Core was wrong PERIOD. It was
wrong for Oklahoma. It was wrong for the system of educating Oklahoma’s kids
because it took too much control out of the hands of parents. The fight over
Common Core was about a system of governance as much as about children. I’ve
read enough history to know that once government subverts the power of the
people, democracy as we know it is finished and the Republic is fallen. This
is why I fought Common Core.

I happened to stumble upon Common Core because, as a former
public school teacher and scientific researcher, I decided to use the tools I
had in my toolbox and the experience I had accumulated to try and enlighten
others who might not be paying the kind of attention I suddenly found myself
paying to a topic I had never really thought of much before 2009. I didn’t
fight Common Core for travel opportunities or to get my name in lights – for 15
minutes of fame. Yes, God allowed me to make contacts with people from all
across the nation over a total of five years I wrestled the issue. Yes, I was
able to spread the Common Core message to the public in a number of different
ways across a number of different venues, but ‘fame’ wasn’t even a single one
of the reasons why I continued to try and educate anyone I could without pay,
while I homeschooled my kids, while I still had to maintain a household a farm
and a garden. Who would do that? Who would leave their children and husband at
the drop of a hat to drive all over the state or fly all over the country for
Common Core ‘fame’? Who would constantly tell their kids to put their own needs
and desires on the back burner while mom talked on the phone or did a radio
interview just to get a little piece of that Common Core ‘limelight’?

No one (I would hope), and
certainly not me. Why would the press have talked more about ‘four people’ than the others out there writing letters or coming to the Capitol for a rally? Could it have been because we’d (ROPE - me, Julia and Lynn) talked and talked and talked to everyone we could for years and years and years before others finally woke up to what was
going on? Probably. No, YES, realistically.

This whole “circle the firing squad” thing INFURIATES me - especially
if you call yourself Christian and you’re the first one to pull out the musket.
It’s no wonder our country is in the shape it’s in. We’re a bunch of spoiled
rotten little babies who have to have everything their own way and if we don’t
get all the accolades and attention for the time we feel we’ve put into
something, screw it. We’re finished playing. We’ll take our ball and go home!

Well guess what. If we’ll all follow the prompting of the
Lord, then EVERYONE will have a job! EVERYONE will have a role to play.
EVERYONE has the hands and feet of Christ. Why is it that it can only be ‘my’
feet that are the most important? It reminds me of the scripture where James
and John are asking Jesus which one of them will be at His right hand. WHO
CARES? You’re standing there with JESUS for Pete sakes! Are you really going to
split those hairs?

Yes. It’s human nature sadly. Just as surely as James and
John wanted to go to fisticuffs over who’s chair was going to be in the better
position after death, we’ll wake up from a full night's sleep in a comfy bed, full of ourselves, believing our fight is
over a chair and not the whole of eternity. None of us should fight for what we
believe in for accolades or position or for any other reason than we heard God’s
prompting and decided to put down our nets and follow Him. Gut check. If you’re
doing ANYTHING to help ANYONE for any other reason, you’re flat wrong and you
need to breathe in a little humility and start over again fresh in the morning.

I’m not perfect. I never said I was. I’m as human as the
next person. But I want to do the right thing. I think others do to. Hopefully,
this will be just the reminder we all need to re-focus our efforts. If not, it’s
time to sit back and watch what happens. God has it covered and he doesn’t need
hands rolled into fists or feet prepared to kick fellow warriors, he needs
those of us willing to die to self to accomplish his will. Let’s make that our
legacy - not how many people we can shoot in a circle in the shortest amount of time in order to come out on top.